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2009-04-20 - Not Alone...
After what happened earlier, Lynn seemed to take some time out for herself. Yes, whatever food she dragged out of the kitchen was consumed quickly, but on top of that, she made her way down to the basement's gym. With her iPod on, and some form of ear bleeding loud rock music blasting, the girl appears to be currently content at the bench press station and from the looks of it, she has at least 400lbs stacked up upon the bar. Despite the sheer amount of weight, the girl doesn't seem to have any issues with it as she goes through her set peacefully. It's about another hour or so after the 'kitchen incident', before Laura arrives down into the gym. She assesses the girl upon the weights, her features expressionless as she regards, with some manner of inward but well-hidden surprise the ease with which Lynn presses the weights. Nodding briefly in some semblance of approval, she makes her way further into the gym. She removes her footwear in a smooth motion, and then moves across the mattresses to the heavy sand-weighted punching bag. "Hello, Lynn. How are you doing?" She asks, almost as if it were the first time she asked the question. Well, technically it's her second. She was told it was good social skills. It takes a moment for Lynn to realize that someone is in the room with her, and she only sees Laura out of her peripheral vision. Its only when she's addressed that the girl sets the bar down and glances up. She doesn't seem as timid as before, nor does she seem as angry. There's a simple jut of her chin in Laura's direction as she states, "Hey." The mixture of the music and training has probably calmed her down a bit. To the next question, which seems a little odd to Lynn - but a lot of things do - she arches a brow and offers questioningly, "Fine?" And since there is no anger in the room, and she's calm, the girl simply finds herself being social. "You?" X-23 answers in kind, "I am fine." But, the answer seems more one that's given because someone told her that was the answer she ought to give, than her own thoughts on the matter. "You have inherent strength as your attribute. That is well." And, without further word, the sixteen year old girl drops into a tiger-attack martial arts stance, and strikes a rapid series of blows into the punching bag, which are as fast in succession as anything Bruce Lee every was recorded on film as doing, and nearly just as precise. Her own mind is focused, and clear upon her task. "I am pleased you are no longer upset that I told Alex your brain was broken," she says, drawing back - but only in time enough to employ a perfectly extended roundhouse kick that surely could take off someone's head if not successfully blocked. "Uh, thanks?" Lynn starts as she still looks towards Laura, a bit confused by the girl's tone and choice of words. "Its not fun when you try to give someone a handshake and don't realize you're hurting them... Or bend spoons when ice cream is too hard and you're pushing against it." She's about to lay back down and start another rep, but pauses, and moves to sit up instead. "What? I wasn't upset about that." She then shrugs offhandedly. "I was the one that told you that, why would I be mad if you told others? Its the truth, anyway." Fluidly shifting into Crane, Laura begins the more sweeping and elegant attacks of the style, and ends up with a final blow in Serpent, before moving to still the bag and settle it, for a new round of blows. Her form is flawless, and it's clear to see she's had more than a few years worth of training underneath her belt. "You must learn discipline," Laura states, as a matter of principle. "If you do not have discipline, you do not have control." But, the words have her pausing, and frowning. "If you were not angry at the words I spoke, then why were you angry?" Lynn now frowns as she watches the other girl, seeing the skill and form with her movements. "You're starting to sound like my mom," she mutters below her breath before the final question was asked. "I just felt it... You were angry, Alessia was angry, so I went on edge. I don't know why, but its what I do. The brain says to do something, and I follow." She sighs. "Look, I once had an awesome friend that could explain it better than I could, but he's not here anymore, so sorry. You're stuck with me explaining this." "You are not human," states the other girl, in that casual, deadpan manner she has. Her jade eyes assess the other in slow, thoughtful fashion. She sniffs the air, once, twice, then her eyes narrow slowly. "You are not feral, either." She takes a few steps forward, looking confused, but determined; a strange mix to be cast over her very youthful features, to be sure. For some reason, Lynn doesn't seem to be too keen with the situation at hand. No, she's not yelling and her posture only straightens a bit in an uncomfortable fashion. "Hey, I am what I am. Okay? We all got our issues to deal with." With a sigh, she notes. "No, my mom was human, my father was feral... I-I got caught in the middle. Thats why my brain doesn't - I dunno, I get confused easily, get it? Sometimes the human side tells me something, and sometimes that other side says something else. And they won't shut up til I choose which to go with." X-23 points out, "You get a choice. We do not, all the time." There's a pause, there, that might register as a hit of true guilt, or sadness within the otherwise brick wall of the girl's emotional state. She nods, then, recovering smoothly. "I see. Yes. That makes sense. You maintain an awareness of feral attributes, but you are not one yourself," she perceives. "Yeah, I guess," she shrugs when Laura makes that statement about choices. "Some things are really confusing though. Like dating, holy crap, I have /no/ idea what you're supposed to do... Or, like, sleep overs. I thought you go there to sleep, not stay up all night talking about boys and painting your nails. I just don't get some things." When Laura pinpoints why Lynn has problems with her mindset, the girl seems to brighten up a bit and smile. She snaps her fingers and offers, "That's it! I know I'm nothing like Kyle - and if you ever meet him, you'll know what I mean... But /something/ is there." Lynn then suddenly pauses and tilts her head slightly to the side as she regards Laura questioningly, as though trying to read the girl's body language. "Why are you so - interested? Everyone dubs me as the weird one and calls it a day." "Because I have not met someone like you before," comes the simplistic answer. "I had awareness of your difference, but could not understand it. I wished to understand it," she answers, as if it made all the sense in the world. And, likely, there's more to it than maybe even she can grasp. Like seeing something familiar in Lynn? "Why would you go over to a sleep over to talk about boys? Were you planning an attack on them?" She wonders. "But then it would be a meeting for stratagem, and not a sleep over. And why would you paint your nails at a sleep over? Would that not be a nail painting over?" At least one other girl doesn't get it. She further voices some kinship with the primal-minded girl, "I have heard of dating. I do not understand the fascination with it. It has no purpose other than to offer distraction, and confusion." Lynn actually nods to Laura's words, taking them into consideration. It isn't the first time she's heard that someone hadn't met one like her before and wanted to know more, it actually more common than she'd like. "I don't... I don't know," she starts in reply to the question about sleep overs. "I was told that they're good and fun? That all teenage girls do it." She then blinks. "Attack? What? No! I don't attack anyone..." In a low, but audible mutter, she notes, "Unless someone pushes me too or takes control of my brain." She's encountered weird crap in her past. Then Lynn goes a bit quiet and her eyes avert to the floor. "I tried dating once... I don't know what happened. He just - left?" As she speaks, there's a bit of hesitance and pain in her voice. It's another one of those things she just doesn't understand. "I think I did something wrong." And on that note, since it was her ex that helped her out the most, she adds, "He said I was, I dunno, mentally abused as a kid? Like, I wasn't allowed to be who and what I was. So it, you know, made me all wonky. I dunno if he's right though." X-23 points out, "I grew up in the Facility. I would not be a good judge if you were abused as a child or not, Lynn," pointedly, with a slender shrug of small shoulders. "I had no parents. I was punished if I failed, and often if I succeeded, because I was not flawless in my executions. I did not know any name other than X-23 until my mother told me my name was Laura as she died. I was given that designation because that was the number of Logan's genetic sample that I was cloned from." This is all said cleanly, just facts in her life; she is neither distant or embarrassed by them. They're a part of her, and she's neither proud, or hesitant to proclaim them. But, there is no sign at all of any mental instability due to such 'abuse'. In many senses, she's much more mature than others her age; and in just as many, she's utterly naive more so than girls far younger than her. At any rate, Laura states, "You seem to be better at being you than anyone else can be. Perhaps he is the one who was flawed. There is no one else who could have been you." Most of what Laura explains, especially the cloning and codename bit, go right over Lynn's head. Still, she frowns. "I'm sorry," comes out in a sympathetic tone. "At least I knew mine. So... You were punished a lot if you did something wrong -" She then blinks. "If you didn't have any parents, then how did your mom name you Laura?" She seems genuinely confused by that wording. "What kind of facility was it?" And then she blinks and offers a half shrug. "Yeah... Maybe he was wrong. I dunno." There's a momentary pause before she offers, "What you're saying is nice and all, but it'd also be cool to just be normal." Laura corrects, "I was punished if I did something wrong, and if I did not do it flawlessly enough even if I succeeded," she confirms. The next query she considers, "I did not know she was my mother, until after I had delivered a killing blow when the Facility enticed me into a feral rage." There is a tightening of her expression, clear anger, mixed with sadness - loss, in a measure the girl still can't deal with well. "It was the Facility. A covert operations funded by the government. I was created to duplicate Logan, because Logan had been deemed a failure to control." Then, at the last statement, she only replies, "You are normal enough to me, Lynn." Still listening, Lynn tries her best to understand, even watching the other girl and seeing the expressions shift. The part about killing her own mother at least gets through. "You...? That's horrible. I'm really sorry." And now the girl feels like a complete ass for getting upset earlier in the day, especially after hearing what Laura said about her seeming to be normal. Unable to help herself, Lynn smiles brightly and motions to try and hug Laura - which could backlash badly. "You're normal to me too!" She offers. Only a measured look of confusion is given to Laura's features; she doesn't read anything aggressive, or suggesting attack in the other girl's movements. And, certainly, she's seen people being hugged before. She just stands there, stiffly while the arms are wrapped around her, and nods once. A few moments later, stiff arms, uncertain move to try to hug the other girl back, but that's not quite how it comes across, all uncertain and awkward, and with absolutely no comprehension for the purpose of the gesture. "That is good." The hug doesn't last for too long before Lynn releases her and moves to sit again on the bench press machine. "Sorry again about earlier. I get dumb at times," she shrugs off easily before looking up at Laura and offering, "I blame it on all the homework lately." The girl pauses as she moves to lay back down and start another rep, but before she lifts the weight bar, she asks, "Whats it like having Logan as a brother? I'm an only child, always wondered what it was like with a brother or sister." X-23 slips back into her stance, "It is - strange," she admits, quietly. "I only discovered him in my mother's files that she left me, when I escaped. He knew nothing of me, until I came here awhile ago. It was - difficult, at first. Both of us are still acclimating, I think." Then, she slowly slips into one of the leg-press machines beside your own bench. "Oh," Lynn offers lowly before falling quiet and starting a new rep at her machine. For a while, she does keep quiet, concentrating on her music and work out instead. After some time, the girl stops and looks over towards Laura. "I guess it was nice meeting you again?" She asks, implying that this be a clean slate meeting - disregarding what happened earlier. "I think I'm gonna head back into the kitchen. I'm friggin' starving!" There's a final wave towards the other girl as Lynn moves to head out from the gym and get herself a bite to eat.